Thread: moving in a rental with solar, which retailer?

Does the house have smart meters or the old style. If the old type the output of the panels is fed back into the mains and you are paid for that. Any power you draw will have to be paid for. If smart meters are fitted the panel output is fed back into the circuits for the house for you to use free. Excess power generated is then fed back into the mains and you get paid a pittance for it. If your load exceeds the panels supply, you draw from the mains and you pay for it. If smart meters are fitted be careful. Each 24 hours is divided into usage zones. Evening zones are the most expensive power. Overnight is the cheapest and the day has a couple of zones which vary in power cost. Talk to the providers to see what they offer.

Originally Posted by jx2mad

Does the house have smart meters or the old style. If the old type the output of the panels is fed back into the mains and you are paid for that. Any power you draw will have to be paid for. If smart meters are fitted the panel output is fed back into the circuits for the house for you to use free. Excess power generated is then fed back into the mains and you get paid a pittance for it. If your load exceeds the panels supply, you draw from the mains and you pay for it. If smart meters are fitted be careful. Each 24 hours is divided into usage zones. Evening zones are the most expensive power. Overnight is the cheapest and the day has a couple of zones which vary in power cost. Talk to the providers to see what they offer.

Thanks for the quick reply Jim. Do any/all providers support solar? I'm more interested in having a very small power bill, rather than getting paid for excess produced. If I was paid that'd be a bonus.

For context we are going from a large 2 storey house into a smaller single storey one. We currently pay about $250/month for electricity, so it'd be nice to have that significantly reduced.

Hi I would assume all providers take solar power into account but not totally sure. How the system works depends on the type of meters that are installed. Our provider is just about to install smart meters so you have to be smart in your use. Generating power during the day would offset any supply usage until you go over. Running washing machines after 9pm is the cheapest but other loads like air conditioners/ heaters running at peak evening time would be the most expensive

Are you actually taking out the electricity contract yourself?

Not sure how it works in Melbourne, but in Queensland every time a property (or more accurately the electricity supply contract) changes hands any solar rebate contract is terminated and the new contract goes onto whatever the new (lower) rebate amount is. If your landlord is smart they will keep the electricity contract in their name and just sell the power to the tenant as part of the lease agreement. This means they keep all the rebates and charge you for supply & usage.

If the bill is in your name then, as said previously, usually what you generate will just be credited to your bill and you will pay for what you use. This will probably mean you will pay a lot more for what you use than you will get for what you put into the system.
One way to reduce your bill is to avoid using much power during the day, when the solar is going back and being credited to you.
Do your washing after 8pm at night, when the rate is usually lower.

Originally Posted by solmanic

Are you actually taking out the electricity contract yourself?

Not sure how it works in Melbourne, but in Queensland every time a property (or more accurately the electricity supply contract) changes hands any solar rebate contract is terminated and the new contract goes onto whatever the new (lower) rebate amount is. If your landlord is smart they will keep the electricity contract in their name and just sell the power to the tenant as part of the lease agreement. This means they keep all the rebates and charge you for supply & usage.

Have spoken to the agent, and yes we are taking out the energy contract personally. It'll be interesting to see what savings we make.

Make sure to ring around power companies, including interstate, as their rates can vary considerably.

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Will,

have a read here: Victorian Feed-in Tariff - DELWP

and here: Closed Feed-in Tariff Schemes - DELWP

I think it will depend on when Solar was connected to the house, but I'm not sure , I'm one of the lucky ones still on the premium feed-in tariff which I am eligible to until 2024... anyone I sold the house to would also be eligible as this feed in tariff stays with the property.